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Thursday, August 10, 2017

From DC to Houston to Rio

Most people think I'm on vacation but Rio is my New York and I have a lot of new photography equipment that I plan to do a lot of filming with so I'll be balancing my time between the beach, training, and filming at different social projects around Rio.

Straight to training.

I packed my camera, a gi, and training clothes

in my carry on suitcase.

My luggage got left in Houston so instead of going to the hospital or the eye doctor, I had to hang around the favela and wait for united to deliver my two suitcases. There's been a lot of police operations (i.e. shootouts) in Cantagalo so the guy refused to go all the way up, which meant me and my friend from Maryland, that has been watching my house had to haul the two suitcases up a crazy long flight of stairs.

Note: When I got the call that the guy had dropped off my suitcases at the stairs I was with two Ecuadorians that are training at Rio. I had taken them to get their haircut at Terere's cousin barber shop in the Gaza Strip, the most dangerous part of Cantagalo. I got the call, grabbed my bag of bananas, and then left them there. They'd only been in the favela for two days, but apparently, they made they're way out because they were in training later that night. I left my bag of bananas with the lookout by my house so that I could have my hands free and went back to get them a couple hours later after I recovered from hauling the suitcase up the stairs.

I still haven't gone to the doctor...

I've pretty much been working and training the whole time I've been here. Three athletes from the Project are going to Curitiba Open tomorrow and I have arrangements to stop by and film at other projects around Rio.

I'm starting off today at Projeto Social Cantagalo, a former Checkmat affiliate that's here where I live and then tomorrow I'm heading off to the City of God Favela to check out the Projeto Social Lutadores de Cristo.